Chapter 1 - The Woman at 5 A.M.
Brooke Mercer walked into the mansion at 5:07 in the morning and ordered a grieving widow out of bed.
She had no idea her husband was standing twelve feet away, listening to every word.
Emma Collins nearly dropped the silver breakfast tray when Dominic Mercer stepped into the servants' kitchen, rain shining on the shoulders of his black suit.
"You came back?"
Dominic pressed one finger to his lips.
He was supposed to be in London until Monday. His private jet had landed outside Providence less than an hour earlier, off the family schedule. Only two members of his security team knew he was home.
"Does Brooke know?" Emma whispered.
"No. And she can't."
Emma's stomach tightened. Dominic never explained himself twice. Half of New England feared him; the other half pretended they had never heard his name.
"Why?"
His eyes moved toward the dark courtyard.
"Noah called me last night. Crying."
Noah was eight, the son of Dominic's widowed niece, Natalie. Natalie had moved into the old Mercer house six months earlier after her husband died in a highway crash. She had never asked Dominic for money. She had asked for quiet. For safety. For enough time to help her son sleep through the night again.
Dominic's late mother, Catherine, had promised that house to Natalie years ago.
Everyone in the family knew it.
Especially Brooke.
Dominic's voice lowered. "Noah asked why Brooke keeps saying Grandma Catherine's house belongs to her now."
Emma went still.
Then came the sound of heels in the east corridor.
Slow. Sharp. Confident.
Dominic stepped behind the old service door just as Brooke entered the kitchen in a cream silk dress under a designer coat. Her honey-blond hair was perfect despite the hour. A leather folder rested under one arm.
She barely looked at Emma.
"Where's Natalie?"
"Asleep, I think."
Brooke smiled. "Then wake her."
Emma did not move.
The smile disappeared.
"I said wake her."
"Why?"
Brooke opened the leather folder and pulled out a stack of papers.
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"Because by six o'clock, Natalie Mercer is going to sign away that house."
Behind the door, Dominic's hand slowly closed into a fist.
